A new IC interconnection scheme and design architecture for high performance ICs at very low fabrication cost - post passivation interconnection

This paper presents a new IC interconnection scheme with thick metals (thicker than 3 μm) and thick dielectrics (thicker than 3 μm) on top of the passivation layer of an IC chip. Combining the conventional dense and thin metal interconnection scheme under the passivation layer, the new interconnection scheme provides a new IC design architecture mimicking a traffic network system that comprises two types of roads - the freeways, serving the long-distance and through traffic; and the city streets, serving short-distance and local traffic. The proposed post passivation interconnection scheme has been developed on both copper and gold metal systems and implemented on high performance circuits. The processes, reliability, and implementation in real products are reported.